Coronavirus: Macau becomes a ghost town as casinos close in historic move to slow outbreak of deadly virus

In a first for Macau, bets are off in the casinos that have transformed the tiny city on China’s southern coast into gaming capital of the world, finds Matthew Keegan

The casino area in Cotai is without people after the Macau government announced that the casinos will be closed for two weeks (EPA)

While the glittering lights and neon glow of Macau’s Cotai Strip may still be illuminating the night sky, inside the casino floors are empty. The entrance doors that usually see tens of thousands of visitors pass through every day are closed. There are no crowds of people – instead it’s just an eerie quiet.

In an unprecedented move, Macau officials announced that from midnight on 5 February the city’s casinos would be shutting down for 15 days to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Macau has 41 casinos, which employ around 57,000 full-time staff. The closure also covers 18 other types of premises including theatres, cinemas, gaming arcades, gyms, internet cafes, bowling centres, beauty parlours, night clubs, karaoke venues and discos.

The announcement came after the city confirmed its 10th case of the virus, with the latest two confirmed cases being local casino workers. The coronavirus has killed at least 560 people in mainland China, one in the Philippines and one in Hong Kong, Macau’s neighbour.

“Of course this was a difficult decision, but we must do it for the health of Macau’s residents,” said Ho Iat Seng, the city’s chief executive, in a televised press conference.

“Today, we see the risks heightened, as one of the new cases works in a casino complex. It’s too early to determine when the situation will get better, so we have decided to suspend casinos and gambling-related activities for half a month preliminarily.”

For some it’s an unthinkable move. Macau has been known to make up to six times as much as Las Vegas annually and profits from gaming taxes account for 80 per cent of total government revenue.

The semi-autonomous city – only 13 square miles with a population of around 676,100 – is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Last year alone, Macau made $36.5bn (£28.3bn) in gambling revenue. Propelled by its booming gaming industry, the city has swelled into one of the richest places on earth per capita.

“My feeling is that if they are taking such a drastic action to close down Macau’s gaming industry for 15 days, when this has never happened before, they must have really big reasons to do that,” says Carlos Lobo, a Macau-based lawyer and gambling consultant.

“Knowing that a couple of casino staff were infected and they were still working for three or five days afterwards – the risk is huge and so I think it was justified to shut down the casinos.”

In the days before the closure, Lobo visited The Venetian, home to the world’s largest casino, as well as the local Galaxy casino. “Usually during Chinese New Year it’s the busiest time of year in the casinos, but this time there was hardly anyone there,” he says. “You could see more staff than visitors – it was really strange.”

Alvin Sum, who works at one of Macau’s biggest casino hotels, says that everything suddenly changed in the last week. “Before Chinese New Year, business was still running as normal. But after the government’s first press conference a week ago, everyone started to feel tension about the virus and we started to get anxious.”

While the casinos are now closed, many of the adjoining hotels remain open, albeit with hardly a single guest in sight. “All of us are wearing masks everywhere we go,” says Sum. “If you go in the staff canteen people are wearing a mask. We just take off our masks to eat, but that’s the only time we remove them.”

The main entrance of Casino Lisboa (Getty Images)

While naturally a bit worried about the virus spreading, Sum says he still trusts his company and the systems that they use to clean everything like the cutlery and plates. “Their hygiene standards are good.”

After the 10th case of coronavirus was confirmed, three of them local residents, Sum says that he and his colleagues could foresee the closure. “Even though as locals we know the impact of closing the casinos on Macau is huge, we agree with the government that citizens’ wellbeing should come first before the economy,” says Sum. “The economy we can always build it up again.”

Beyond the casinos it’s a similar picture. The streets of Macau that are normally jam-packed are now mostly empty.

“People are afraid to go outdoors. You go to parks and families are not out. I was walking around the tourist spots yesterday and it’s like a ghost town. The streets are just empty,” says Glenn McCartney, assistant professor of hospitality and gaming management at the University of Macau. “It’s the quietest I’ve seen it in my 22 years of living here.”

Macau is used to seeing around 100,000 visitor arrivals every day. But, according to the city’s tourism office, in the days before the suspension of casinos was announced visitors had already dropped by 80 per cent.

“For tourism, a health crisis can be one of the longest to recover from,” says McCartney. “This is because there’s a lot of stigma involved when it comes to health, particularly when there’s human-to-human transmission involved.”

McCartney admits that there is nothing the tourist industry can do except wait for indications from medical practitioners and the government. But even if this plays out for three or four months, owing to the resilience of the gaming industry in Macau, McCartney remains confident that it will soon bounce back.

“The tourism and integrated resort industry in Macau will be ready to leap into recovery mode as fast as possible. As soon as they get indication, they will go to market with their messaging and bring back their loyal customers.”

But while tourism and the economy is undoubtedly going to be hit, it’s unlikely to cause long-term problems for the government or the six main casino operators.

“The casinos and the government have been running on a profit every single year for the past 20 years, so they have enough reserves for a rainy day like this one,” says Lobo. “I’m more worried about the small and medium businesses that essentially have no way to handle this. They still have to pay salaries and rent and yet they won’t be making any money.”

For most local residents, attention has turned to getting face masks and stocking up on food supplies as no one yet knows how long the crisis will last.

“The only issue with the announcement of the casinos closing down was that it provoked panic among locals who ran to the supermarkets to get frozen food and stock up on supplies,” says Lobo. “I went out onto the streets immediately after the press conference was televised and I noticed everybody going to supermarkets and queues were quickly forming.”

To try and ease the panic, Macau’s chief executive later gave the assurance that it had sufficient supplies of fresh produce, other food and other basic goods. For protective face masks, the government has said that it will continue to acquire – at any necessary cost – such items.

“I think most locals feel good with how the Macau government has responded to the situation so far,” says Sum. “They work fast and they work accurately. So when something like this happens, I don’t feel too worried because they seem prepared and able to reduce the impact to society.”

Meanwhile, the government has urged the public to stay at home and avoid unnecessary outings. “I only go out once every three days to get a few groceries,” says Sum. “I have never experienced this kind of situation in over 30 years of living in Macau. I really pray that this will not go on for too much longer.”